About this project
www.leewardrailband.com
Admit it. You've imagined furling the topsail on a tall ship and felt the sea's call. You've seen a fishing boat steaming over the horizon and wanted to be part of the crew. The Perfect Storm, Deadliest Catch, Captain's Courageous, Moby Dick. You were there. Now you can be part of the crew of an important rescue mission. The Leeward Rail Band is looking for a few good folks.
We're losing our rich New England maritime heritage and we're losing the institutions that keep it alive. Libraries and museums are squeezed on funding and patronage, negatively impacting our connection to our culture, past and present. Yeah, technology is great, but sometimes, "it ain't that great" if it isolates us from our community institutions, written words, and oral traditions. How do we turn this ship around?
Very simply, we'd like to perform free concerts along the coast of New England. How many hundreds of libraries and museums could use our help? Quite a few, we suspect. We propose ten shows in a year-- just help us with our expenses. We'd also like to finish, professionally master, and distribute our debut CD. This disc, along with signed copies of Kev's book, "The Freedom Plant", and other band goodies, will be made available to our venues at a low cost so they can make a few extra retail bucks at the show.
We'll print a postcard style flyer and mass mail them to libraries, museums, etc, then it will be first come, first serve, for the ten project shows. We'll perform, various institutions will charge a reasonable fee at the door, hold a coffeehouse bake sale at intermission, and ten nautical fundraisers are born. We get to play and expand our audience, and in so doing, we bring vitality, relevance, and $ into your institution. Win-win. (After the project has run its course, we'll still be available for a reasonable booking fee.)
The mayday call has been heard. You know, it would be really great to have one person pledge a million dollars. Really would. But wouldn't it be outstandingly wicked cool if a million people each pledged a dollar?
I leave you with the words that Gen. George Washington told his crew before he crossed the Delaware and entered the Battle of Trenton: "We can't do a damned thing until we untie the boat!"
You in?
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
7
Backers
$690
pledged of $4,500 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on December 10, 2009.
Pledge $1 or more
All pledges have inclusion in the Leeward Railers e-mail crew updates
Pledge $5 or more
Authentic crew certificate pdf file e-mailed to you. (Print it, frame it, then tell your own harrowing sea stories, preferably with a parrot perched on your shoulder.)
Pledge $10 or more
Crew certificate as above PLUS an original exclusive track, (not on the CD), e-mailed to you.
Pledge $25 or more
Crew certificate, original exclusive track, PLUS a Leeward Rail Band mug.
Pledge $50 or more
Crew certificate, mug, PLUS TWO original exclusive tracks.
Pledge $100 or more
Crew cert., mug, two tracks, PLUS the new Leeward Rail Band CD.
Pledge $200 or more
Crew cert., two tracks, mug, CD, PLUS a copy of Kev's book, signed!
Project By
Connected
Growing up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, there were only two ways to go.....clam digging or petty thievery. Digging clams as a kid led me to bigger boats, different fisheries, a couple of marine science degrees, 23 years as owner/captain of two boats. I've worn out a few pairs of boots, I guess. Now I build skiffs, work in marine construction, and write about and sing about the rich maritime heritage we have off our shores.
In 2007, I published my first novel, "The Freedom Plant, a Novel of New England Fishermen". This book about our glory days as fishermen was unique in that it had its own soundtrack. I included seven nautical folk songs from the late, very great, musician Stan Rogers. My two multi-talented musical partners, Keith Allen and Jim Somers, shared my vision that these songs be performed in a band setting, and the Leeward Rail Band was formed. In our concerts, we sing the "book songs", our own original compositions, and add in some favorites. The music always has a strong tie to the water and those who "see his wonders in the deep".
The Leeward Rail Band. "Nautical, but not your father's folk music."
